Japan gearing up for first military export deal in decades – report

Tokyo is likely to approve its first military export deal in decades, Nikkei business daily reported. Japanese-made sensors will be installed on American PAC-2 missile defense systems, to be further re-exported to Qatar.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries produces high-performance, infrared
seeker-tracker sensors, the key component of missiles in the
Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) air defense system, under
license from US arms manufacturer Raytheon. Japan has been making
the sensors for its own defense force.

Japan’s government in April relaxed its arms export rules,
enabling exports of military technology for the first time since
1967. Now such deals are fully legal and only require government
approval.

Raytheon’s problem is that its production capacities are already
engaged in making updated sensors for the next-generation Pac-3
missile interceptor system. To satisfy the Qatari order, Raytheon
opted to delegate the sensors production to Japan’s Mitsubishi,
Nikkei reported.

Though international agreements prohibit the export of military
technologies to countries engaged in military conflicts, Tokyo
and Washington might have come to the conclusion that delivering
PAC-2 complexes to Qatar would not affect any other country.

Yet there have been reports that Qatar, an American ally and home
to the US Al-Udeid Air Base, has been actively participating in a
number of conflicts in recent years, such as ousting Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011 and
the ongoing civil war in Syria.

After decades of taking a pacifist stance, fixed in Japan’s
post-WWII constitution, and an absolute ban on the trade of
defense equipment and technologies, the government of Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe is expanding the country’s defense industry,
enabling its participation in international weapons development
programs and easing rules of military exports products to ensure
industrial growth.

The three new principles of military technology export from Japan
are internationally recognized and will include the transparency
of arms deals, securely screening to prevent possible transfer of
Japanese equipment to third parties and no weapons exports to
countries involved in conflicts and regimes under UN resolutions,
PM Shinzo Abe’s government assured in April.

The arms trade will also be accompanied by annual reports and
full disclosure of information on all deals.